‘“Hier ist die Grenze […] Wollen wir darüber hinaus?” : Borders and Ambiguity in Fontane’s "Unwiederbringlich"
Abstract
Theodor Fontane’s „Unwiederbringlich“ may be productively read as an exploration of boundaries. The historical context creates a distinction between bordered and unbordered spaces, between crossing thresholds and staying within limits. This double focus mirrors the text’s thematics, in which clear thresholds in morality and time are balanced against exhortations to relativism. The represented landscape reproduces this antithesis and functions as a symbolic map against which Holk’s and Christine’s actions and feelings may be read, charting trespass and ironic misunderstanding. A study of boundaries in the text reveals a complex and multifaceted spatial symbol appropriate to a literary exploration of thresholds in human life.
Citation
White , M J 2010 , ' ‘“Hier ist die Grenze […] Wollen wir darüber hinaus?” : Borders and Ambiguity in Fontane’s "Unwiederbringlich" ' , Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie, Sonderheft , vol. 129 , pp. 109-123 .
Publication
Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie, Sonderheft
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0949-1678Type
Journal article
Description
Sonderheft "Grenzen im Raum, Grenzen in der Literatur"Collections
Items in the St Andrews Research Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.